The Best Batman Villains You Haven't Seen

Unfilmed or simply unfilmable, one comic-book expert's favorite bad guys from the franchise who are not likely to show up in The Dark Knight Rises or beyond. Make your own #BetterBatmanVillains picks on Twitter.

Man-Bat

Man-Bat

First appearance: Detective Comics #400, June 1970, by Frank Robbins and Neal Adams

Man-Bat was once scientist Dr. Kirk Langstrom, who created a bat-extract formula to give himself sonar, in order to compensate for his deafness. Things went awry, as they do, and instead he turned himself into a monstrous half-man/half-bat killer. Enthusiasts and recent moviegoers will note the striking similarity to the scientist in Spider-Man who turns himself into a monstrous half-man/half-lizard. But this is completely different, because Man-Bat has a wife. Her name is She-Bat. And a pet, Goldfish-Bat. There was once a Marvel/DC crossover in which Lizard took bat serum and Mat-Bat took lizard serum in an effort to cure each other, but they ended up as elephant-seals. Or somebody should have written that story, anyway.

Should be played by: Andy Serkis in a bat-suit. Or Robert Pattinson, for more comedic value.

Bat-Mite

Bat-Mite

First appearance: Detective Comics #267, May 1959, by Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldof

Bat-Mite is a three-foot-tall imp from another dimension who idolizes Batman and wears an ill-fitting bat costume to prove it. He has near-infinite magic powers that he uses to set challenges for Batman. He's more for a pest than a threat, really, except for that time when he destroyed the universe, and presumably Batman along with it. That was an Elseworlds story, though, so it didn't count.

Should be played by: CGI, obviously, but for the voice work I'd recommend Arnold Schwarzenegger, since Bat-Mite is unstoppable like the evil Terminator.